Fonts lining the top of Folsom Field are eroding. The words, like “National Champions.” The names, like White, Salaam, and Anderson. Their whites are fading into the same color as the background they occupy.
The 2012 Buffs are painting over a photograph. Proud memories are drowning under their relentless stains.

Saturday’s all black uniforms bore symbol of something sinister. Like they were dressed for their own funeral, the bleak Buffs colored the field in another undignified coat.

Saturday’s loss to UCLA (4-1, 1-1) was more than anticipated – It was a bigger guarantee than Popeye winning the November election on write-in votes. Coach Jon Embree keeps mentioning the disparity between his group’s practices during the week and it’s performance on the Saturday stage.

“I don’t (have an answer), I wish I did,” Embree said. “For whatever reason, we have not played well. We have 8-10 plays that we know we’re going to start with and we practice it against the looks we are going to get, but for whatever reason we’re just not able to do anything.”

The past seems so distant that it’s nearing the border of unmemorable, where even the best stories are forgotten. Pardon the morbid barrage, but Folsom is becoming a graveyard for histories and traditions. The reason Ralphie runs so fast is so she can get back in her cage, away from sight of the games.

“Personally for me, I’ve been through a lot of this stuff,” said left tackle David Bakhtiari. “I’m on to the next week.”

Fans are starting to run, too. The low attendance numbers of 46,000 for the first two games are the lowest housed at Folsom since a 2010 game played during the students’ Thanksgiving break.

Expectations for success are long gone. Isn’t it a matter of time until that sentiment trickles down into the locker room, the way that a building puddle eventually drips undeterred through a compromised roof?
Quarterback Jordan Webb said he doesn’t see it that way.

“We never come out here expecting to lose,” Webb said. “And we don’t expect to lose to anybody, that is just our mentality.”

Cynical ears might reject those words with a scoff. For God’s sake, some students were singing “Amazing Grace” in the fourth quarter as they exited the stadium.

The Buffs have a laundry list of offensive problems, including a rushing attack that again averaged less than three yards per carry and a bevy of turnovers. They are 109[SUP]th[/SUP] in the FBS in rushing yards and 107[SUP]th[/SUP] in points.

There is a sign on a creek-side trail leading up to Folsom Field that reads: “This Path Is Closed. Do Not Enter.” If the program’s downward spiral continues at it’s pace exceeding gravity’s pull, that same sign might have to be nailed to the stadium entrance.

Embree’s Buffs are chipping away at that bright picture that took decades to paint. The work is going lost under heavy black layers. Poor results cover the shine that used to beam from trophies won.

“We don’t have a lot to show for it, but we have taken strides,” Embree said. “You know, there were tears in the locker room, and guys still care and are still competing and fighting. At times, we’re just over matched.”